Page 60 of Just A Trip

“It will be a shame to lose you, but you have to follow your dreams,” Dad says.

I agree. Right now, those dreams look exactly like the girl I just watched drive away. If my future has anything to do with her, which I pray it does, I’ll be one happy man. “You’re really not mad?” I ask.

“Son, when I started the business there was nothing driving me but my own passion. When push came to shove, I stuck with the business because I wanted to. Otherwise, I would have given it up years ago. When you find something like that, you don’t stop choosing it.”

I know he’s still talking about careers, but my brain is taking me back to Karli. I’ll choose her, over and over again through every up and down.

We talk for another ten minutes about a timeline and me training a new employee to do my job until my mom orders everyone to stop the “shop talk” and play a game. But I opt out because I’m physically and mentally exhausted. The only thing my brain has energy for is Karli.

Why did she leave like that?

I give my mom a hug and head upstairs, my feet dragging up each step. I’m too tired to go to my apartment. I also don’t have a vehicle to drive there.

“Wait,” Lennox calls, catching up to me.

Am I getting slower or is she getting faster?

I don’t turn. “What?”

“I don’t know what happened with Karli earlier, but she seemed kind of upset.”

“Lots of things, her car caught on fire, her mom’s the worst, she puked on the freeway, and she sleepwalks.”

Lennox blinks. “Okay…that’s a lot to unpack. But I mean, she seemed upset with you. Tonight.”

“Was it that obvious?” I thought I’d been the only one to pick up on it.

Lennox hugs her arms around herself. “She looked heartbroken down there when she rejected your kiss.”

I didn’t make that part up.

I reach the top step and stop. I don’t know what to do. I need to lie down. I need to chase after Karli to see what’s wrong. But I can’t do anything. I’m frozen in place.

Lennox must recognize the indecision on my face. “Hey, you can figure it out tomorrow. I’m sure everything’s fine.”

I’m not so sure.

I trudge into my old room, half asleep before I even hit the pillow. The last thing I register before I drift to sleep is everyone yelling Sean’s name. But that must be wrong because he’s in Vegas.

Chapter 29

Trent

Inmydreams,Isee Karli. I see our trip. I watch the last forty-eight hours like it’s on a big screen, and I’m the only one in the theater. I laugh when she laughs, and cry when she does. I hold her and kiss her. We dance and we fall in love.

In my dreams, I see exactly where I went wrong. But in my dreams, I can’t fix it.

In my dreams, I feel warm air rush over my face. And I smell something. It’s not pleasant.That’s not what Karli smells like.

“Trent.”

Karli. Is she here?

“Trent, wake up.”

That’s not Karli’s voice.

I open my eyes to find not one annoying sibling hovering over me, but two of them.

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